Ice hockey at the Olympics: Not again like in Beijing

If there is something to celebrate in Finland, the Havis Amanda is always a suitable place.

For more than 100 years, the mermaid has watched over the fountain on Kauppatori, the large market square in the center of the capital Helsinki.

And the statue is regularly surrounded by people singing, dancing and drinking.

Like on Sunday morning, because something historic happened more than 6,000 kilometers away: the Finnish team won the ice hockey final in Beijing 2-1 against the Russian athletes and became Olympic champions for the first time.

"We wrote Finnish sports history," said coach Jukka Jalonen.

And that was celebrated accordingly.

At home as well as in Beijing: the first cabin videos of men with nothing on their bodies except groin guards, gold medals and champagne bottles quickly circulated on the Internet.

Six games, six wins

There was no doubt that a deserved winner was celebrating: Six games, six wins, best offense, best defense – the rarely spectacular but always disciplined Finns set the standards in Beijing.

In the final, they allowed the Russians just 17 shots on goal.

Because they implemented their system of tight spaces perfectly.

Not an isolated case: Since 2014, Finland has won 20 medals for men, women, U20 and U18, eight of which were gold.

In relation to the size of the country - just under 5.5 million inhabitants - many in the industry now consider Finland to be the best ice hockey nation in the world.

The Olympic victory was just the latest argument.

However, it is marked with an asterisk.

Luc Tardif, President of the World Ice Hockey Federation IIHF since September, tried to take countermeasures in Beijing: "In the end, the gold medal will always have the same value." But that didn't change the fact that this men's tournament was a low point for international ice hockey : A Chinese team whose rules have been bent so that numerous North Americans can be naturalized to avoid being humiliated in the eyes of the Party and abroad.

Many tough games in almost empty halls because most teams showed little interest in offensive hockey.

And above all: The IIHF as the only professional association that did not manage to bring the best athletes to Beijing, the North American professional league NHL did not release its staff.

In Milan in 2026 things should be different again.

Tardif is "optimistic" that he will be able to welcome the stars of the scene there again.

And there needs to be clarity about this by 2025 at the latest, not like this time, when the cancellation came just a few weeks before the games.

However, Tardif did not perform as briskly as his predecessor Rene Fasel, who frequently distributed announcements to the NHL and got more than a bloody nose.

It is also clear to him that the NHL holds the reins in world ice hockey: "If they don't come, it would be a big problem."

After all, how do sport and with it the associations want to grow worldwide if there hasn't been an international comparison of the best for years?

The annual World Cup offers just as little as the 2018 and 2022 Olympics.

The last time national teams played with their best players was in Toronto in 2016, at the World Cup of Hockey, a kind of NHL World Cup: it organizes, it invites, it keeps the income.

Money is always at stake between the NHL, IIHF and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In 2022, the pandemic may have played a role in the cancellation, but the big issues are marketing rights, insurance, travel expenses.

As early as 2018, NHL bosses didn't see why they should interrupt their season for a tournament where their highly paid employees raked in money for others.

Critics consider that to be too short-sighted: Various sports prove that leagues can benefit from large country tournaments.

Of course, they also know that in the NHL, which is why NHL boss Gary Bettman recently suggested moving hockey to the summer games, which Tardif rejects.

The NHL's plans for a new World Cup are all the more surprising.

It is scheduled to take place in February 2024.

The season would then have to be interrupted for him too, but if the income goes to the right accounts, it might not be so bad anymore.

Meanwhile, the IIHF is considering how the Olympics will continue.

The women's tournament is to be expanded from ten to twelve nations.

And in the future, three-on-three could also become Olympic, which has so far only happened in overtime in "normal" ice hockey.

Fewer players on the ice means more space and more scoring opportunities.

This appeals to new target groups and is also interesting for smaller nations.

Those that only a few players at a high level and in five-a-side have no chance.

"Many sports did something similar," said IIHF Vice Petr Briza, "rugby with seven players, volleyball with beach volleyball or three-on-three basketball." Three-on-three ice hockey was tested at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne.

It should also be there in South Korea in 2024.

It remains to be seen whether this will eventually also apply to the adult Winter Games.

One thing is certain: there should no longer be an ice hockey tournament like 2022 in Beijing.